1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector having a grounding plate and grounding pins connected together to achieve a good grounding effect.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,259 discloses an electrical connector 22 having a ground shroud 50 and a plurality of conductive signal and grounding terminals 36 secured in a housing 24 of the connector 22. The ground shroud 50 comprises a first portion 54 and a second portion 62 which has a plurality of second contact sections 70 extending outwardly therefrom for being soldered in through holes 86 of the circuit board 80. The grounding terminals 36 are soldered with contact pads 84 on the circuit board 80. To this design, the circuit board 80 must provide much room to arrange through holes 86 and contact pads 84 for connecting the second contact sections 70 and grounding terminals 36. A limited room on the printed circuit bard is valuable, and decreasing occupying room of the electrical connector on the printed circuit board is desirable. In addition, manufacturing the through holes 86 and designing the contact pads 84 on the printed circuit board 80 is burdensome. Furthermore, total number of the through holes 86 and contact pads 84 is too large, if one electrical connection between the second contact section 70 and grounding circuitry of the through hole 86 or one electrical connection between the grounding terminal 36 and the contact pad 84 is not reliable, grounding effect will be influenced. Hence, an improved electrical connector having a good grounding effect and occupying less room on the printed circuit board is desirable.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a good grounding effect.
In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of signal and grounding terminals received in the housing, and a grounding plate covered on the housing to shield the terminals. The housing comprises a main body which defines a plurality of through holes extending therethrough, and the grounding terminals are secured in the through holes. The grounding plate comprises a main portion covered on the main body of the housing, a pair of beams extending from a pair of ends of the main portion and being bent to be soldered on a printed circuit board. A pair of grounding pins is integrality formed on each beam. Each grounding pin is partly secured in the corresponding through hole to receive and contact the grounding terminal to form an electrical connection between the grounding terminal and the grounding pin. Thus, an electrical trace from the grounding plate and grounding terminal to the ground circuitry of the printed circuit board is established.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.